1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for storing and displaying images formed from an image storage server for storing image data and an image display unit connected to the image storage server via a network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Medical imaging diagnosis is the process in which a doctor makes a diagnosis based on medical images (i.e., the doctor interprets the medical images) developed on a film or output on an image display unit. The medical images to be interpreted are captured by various modalities (i.e., medical imaging devices), such as computed tomography (CT), computed radiography (CR), magnetic resonance (MR), and digital radiography (DR).
Recently, medical image data management systems, such as a picture archiving and communication system (PACS), have been widely used. By using PACS at a medical facility, such as a hospital, a system enabling transmission of medical image data between an image storage server and an image display unit, such as a workstation, can be established.
The image storage server stores, in advance, medical images from various modalities and relates the medical images from each modality with a predetermined display mode (layout) for a display screen that is most appropriate for interpreting the medical image obtained by the particular modality. When a modality is selected, the best display mode for the selected modality is also selected to display medial images on the PACS image display unit (for example, refer to Japanese-Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 4-49945).
For example, if a plurality of CT images of a patient is displayed on the PACS image display unit, the user of the PACS can categorize the CT images according to the different regions of the body, such as the head, the chest region, and the abdominal region. Then the display mode for the CT images of each category may be changed on the image display unit.
However, when interpreting a plurality of medical images obtained from various modalities, the display mode of the medical images had to be changed at a client viewer by a user to the optimal display mode for interpreting the medical images. This operation places a great burden on the user. Furthermore, since devices that are capable of easily and quickly scanning the entire human body, such as a multi-slice CT device, have been introduced, it is difficult for the user to categorize the medical images obtained from the series of data. For this reason, the medical images obtained from a series of data were often not categorized appropriately. As a result, this inappropriate categorization led to a misinterpretation of the medical images by the user.
When the user categorizes the medical images, the identification numbers of the categorized medical images must be stored in a database of the image data server. Also, the identification numbers of the medical images must be displayed on the client viewer. The transmission of these identification numbers has been adding load to the network.
For a multiple modality viewer capable of displaying images from a plurality of modalities, a display capable of efficiently displaying the images of a patient captured by the plurality of modalities on the same screen is desired. However, according to known display modes, only the optimal display mode for a single modality could be selected. As a result, the medical images captured by the plurality of modalities overlapped each other on the screen in the initial display mode. Hence, the display mode had to be changed at the image display unit to a mode that facilitated the interpretation of the medical images. This operation causes the working efficiency for the user to be reduced.
Moreover, when changing the display mode to a mode that facilitates the interpretation of the medical images at the client viewer, an application for changing the mode has to be installed in the client viewer. Sometimes, a multiple modality viewer is required to use image data such as computer aided diagnosis or detection (CAD) data to display similar images on the screen of the client viewer or to box off a predetermined image and line up similar images next to the boxed off image. Furthermore, new types of images that require new display modes may be introduced in the future. For this reason, it is predictable that in the future a wide variety of applications will be installed in the client viewer.